The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Chapter 100

After school, Percival wanted to walk home together, but Vivienne shut him down hard.

She always had a lot of stuff on her mind about her mom that she wanted to talk about with Iris, and having Percival there would make it awkward.

Vivienne and Iris had already informed Dorian and Cordelia, so they picked up Thaddeus, grabbed a bite, and headed to the amusement park.

It’d been a long time, and Iris’s face seemed a lot older than Vivienne remembered, but she was still as gentle as ever.

Iris held Thaddeus and smiled at Vivienne. It reminded her of an old photo where Iris was holding her with the same gentleness.

That was her only time at an amusement park.

Vivienne was prepared for Iris to plead for the Hawthorn family.

But Iris dragged Thaddeus straight to the merry-go-round as soon as they got there and waved at Vivienne. “Come on, Vivienne, join us.”

Vivienne cracked a smile. Her beauty was like a breath of springtime sunshine.

Aside from a few rides with height restrictions, the three of them did the whole park.

In the end, Iris and Thaddeus came out of the haunted house and got all excited after seeing the Ferris wheel.

While queuing, Thaddeus wanted some ice cream. Iris turned to Vivienne. “Hold the line, Vivienne. I’ll take him to get some. We’ll be right back.”

“Sure,” Vivienne nodded.

However, they were taking forever. It was almost their turn, and there was still no sign of them.

Just as Vivienne was hesitating at the ticket gate, someone grabbed her hand from the side and dragged her onto the Ferris wheel.

She whipped around to see who it was and frowned. “Mr. Ellington, don’t you have anything better to do?”

The Ferris wheel started its slow ascent as the door closed.

Percival was a big guy. The cabin was not small, but it still felt a bit cramped to him.

“Isolde wanted to come to the park. What are the odds that you guys are here

he pointed out the

see Thomas with Isolde in the queue. The little girl

12.15

spotted Vivienne and began waving

didn’t like Vivienne, so she kept Isolde away from the Hawthorn family, which was driving

hands at Vivienne, indicating that he wasn’t pulling her

her face. As if

because she had questions

still followed, which

girls would have fallen madly in love with him

But she was Vivienne.

walking on eggshells for ten years,

hard to gauge, which was a fact

that he had been to her and her mother’s

every move to see if he had ulterior

around her, not because she was moved by him,

hiding herself.

the Ferris wheel slowly turned as

looked out the window. The night sky seemed

down upon the amusement park lights and the tiny

were in line with Thomas and Isolde, both kids were hand in hand, laughing and

off, fireworks lit up the entire sky. It was a

was watching the fireworks, and Percival was watching

know that her profile, in the

saying this, Percival found that his throat was now a bit dry. He had to fake

the moment he turned his head, the cabin’s glass reflected

Chapter 100

intense that even he was

was oblivious, and she gave him a slight smile. “You want to

like it here.” Percival was

how about we make a

“Bet on what?”

this amusement park for me, I’ll do something for you.” Vivienne leaned in slightly, with a hint of mischief in her smile. “If you can’t, you do

“Anything?”

“Yep.”

looked up to

fireworks in the night sky danced in her